Sephirot stood before the wooden door, eyebrows knitted tightly.
He turned to look back at the corridor behind them, utter darkness.
Rose, seeing him suddenly turn around, tensed instantly. "What's wrong, Mr. Sephirot?"
"Is something off? Or are monsters ambushing us?"
She was currently at the very end of the line; if monsters appeared from behind...
Thinking this, she shuddered involuntarily.
"Definitely off. Too off."
Sephirot gazed at the corridor, his tone inexplicably odd. "There should still be a group of warm, hospitable nurses here."
"Nurs... nurses?"
Rose moved closer to Sephirot, absolutely daring not to look back.
"Yes, precisely the kind that look somewhat abstract but have excellent figures and can dance mechanized routines."
The M1911 twirled in a flourish in his hand, Sephirot looking regretful. "What a waste; I even deliberately saved bullets to give them a physical check-up."
Rose's expression stiffened. Watching Sephirot seriously complain about why monsters hadn't appeared, she felt utterly bewildered.
How exactly is this man's brain wired?
We're here to find someone, aren't we? Isn't no monsters a good thing?!
Christabella, being held in his grasp, trembled even more violently, not uttering a word. She completely couldn't understand what Sephirot was saying, only frantically praying in her heart that this madman would forget her existence.
"Fine."
Sephirot sighed, appearing thoroughly unenthused. "Let's go in and see the little girl."
"Ms. Rose, this is the end. You'll soon see your daughter."
He lifted his leg and kicked the wooden door.
"Bang!"
The wooden door collapsed violently.
A burst of bright light exploded from within the room, instantly engulfing everyone.
This was Alessa's memory.
In the scene, a frail, helpless little girl was cornered by classmates. The children pointed at her and cursed:
"Bastard without a father."
"Witch."
"..."
The scene shifted. The little girl, afraid, hid in a toilet but was targeted by the janitor Colin. Inside the dim toilet cubicle, it was filled with his face brimming with lechery and restless hands.
Immediately afterwards, the setting transformed into a resplendent, golden hall. Fanatical believers raised torches high; a woman wearing Bishop robes stood on a high platform, loudly pronouncing judgment.
"Do not weep for demons."
"We have achieved victory once again!"
That person was precisely Christabella.
Behind her, the little girl was bound to a ladder, her entire body coated with wax oil. Fire rose from her ankles, quickly engulfing her.
At the end of the memory, the little girl, severely burned all over her body, was being sent to the hospital by police.
She survived by chance, yet in the hospital's basement, day after day, she endured endless suffering and the torment of wound dressing changes.
Eventually, hatred sprouted, darkness descended, engulfing the entire town.
"Phew..."
The light faded, the image vanished.
Sephirot blinked, and the scene before him changed.
This was a dilapidated underground ward. The walls around continuously seeped a black, viscous tar, and the air was filled with the smell of burnt flesh.
In the center of the room was a sickbed covered by a filthy curtain.
Below the bed wasn't ground, but perpetually burning flames, as if this bed, together with the person on it, had been scorched by fire for decades.
Beside the sickbed, a figure of immense oppressive presence stood silently.
Pyramid-shaped helmet, naked and muscular upper body still stained with blood, that massive greatsword stood upright before it.
Pyramid Head, who just moments ago slaughtered believers upstairs like chopping vegetables, now stood like a loyal knight, guarding Dark Alessa's bed.
"Hmm..."
Sephirot looked at this scene and raised an eyebrow.
The nurses outside were gone, even the nurse who cared for Dark Alessa in the original story was replaced by Pyramid Head. This little girl, how come she keeps all the good stuff hidden for herself?
Then, a little girl wearing blue clothes emerged from the shadows.
Dark Alessa.
She looked at Sephirot, her tone puzzled:
"Who are you? Why did you disrupt my plan?"
"And on you, there's a scent that feels familiar to me, ancient, powerful, and not belonging to a human."
"Maybe I've always had a special constitution."
Sephirot shrugged, not acting reserved just because she was Silent Hill's ultimate boss.
"I came here mainly for two things."
"First, entrusted by this lady, to help her find her daughter."
Sephirot pointed at Rose behind him, who was still immersed in Dark Alessa's memory. "Second, to find someone."
As he spoke, he handed out Mary's photo. "Have you seen this woman?"
Dark Alessa didn't even look, her pitch-black eyes devoid of any fluctuation: "I haven't seen this woman."
Sephirot's expression remained unchanged, only listening as Dark Alessa continued.
"But I saw a man. He entered Silent Hill two days ago, seemed to be searching for something constantly, but he disappeared very quickly."
Dark Alessa's voice was icy. "He didn't enter my world, but fell into the abyss of his own heart."
Sephirot narrowed his eyes slightly, a conjecture forming in his mind: "Any distinguishing features?"
Dark Alessa waved her small hand, and an image appeared mid-air.
In the image, a man with blond hair, wearing a green jacket, was walking on some street, occasionally even breaking into car windows on the roadside, picking something out from inside.
James Sunderland?
Sephirot watched his back, collecting supplies just like in the game, and his lips twitched.
He was pulled in as well?
Silent Hill was too psychological.
Everyone's inner sins and dark sides would project a different Otherworld.
Dark Alessa controlled the vengeful Silent Hill, while James...
This wife-killing lunatic had clearly entered his own world of penance.
When James came to the Agency to commission the task, he claimed he received a letter from his wife Mary, who died of illness three years ago.
But as a transmigrator, Sephirot knew clearly Mary didn't die from illness; she was suffocated with a pillow by James himself.
James later couldn't accept this fact. His grief-stricken brain automatically hid this memory, fabricating a lie he could accept.
Ultimately, the darkness and guilt within his heart were drawn to Silent Hill, plunging him completely into it.
This lifetime, even though James commissioned a task at the Agency and didn't go to Silent Hill, he was still dragged into it by irresistible force.
Collecting his thoughts, Sephirot looked at Dark Alessa: "Let's make a deal?"
"You send me to this man's world, and also return Sharon to this lady."
As he spoke, he lifted Christabella in his hand. "In exchange, this woman belongs to you."
Dark Alessa tilted her head, a trace of amusement flashing across her face. "The worlds of Silent Hill are interconnected; sending you there is easy for me."
"But... why should I trade with you?"
Her childish face revealed cruelty mismatched with her age. "Now this woman is in your hands. If I kill you, I can also get her."
As her words fell, Pyramid Head, who had been standing silently, slowly lifted the greatsword before him.
"Zzzz..."
The greatsword dragged along the ground, sparks sputtering, while his immense, oppressive body stepped forward simultaneously.
(Translated by yourtl.app)
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TL NOTES — CROSSOVER GUIDE Some references in this chapter come from source universes that may be unfamiliar to some readers. The notes below are here to help readers unfamiliar with these universes follow along more easily.
CHARACTERS
The nurses — The "hospitable nurses" Sephirot was hoping to encounter are the Bubble Head Nurses, one of Silent Hill's most recognizable monster types. In the games, they are grotesque humanoid figures in torn nurse uniforms, with distorted, bandage-wrapped heads twisted at unnatural angles, who move in erratic, spasming motions. They first appear in Silent Hill 2 and are widely interpreted as a manifestation of James's repressed sexual frustration during his wife's long illness. Their absence here, replaced by a more direct path and Pyramid Head as sole guardian, reflects how Alessa's version of the Otherworld has been shaped around her own memories rather than James's psychology.